MADISON HEIGHTS (WKZO) -- The founder of Madison Heights-based pizza chain Hungry Howie's has died.

Seventy-one-year-old Jim Hearn died in Florida on Tuesday after an unspecified illness.  Hearn opened the first Hungry Howie's in Taylor in 1973, and the company is now the eleventh largest pizza chain in the United States with over 550 franchisees.

Hearn is survived by his wife and two daughters.  Funeral arrangements have not been announced.